Department of Transportation May 24, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is issuing a waiver of its Buy America requirements to the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) for high-speed rail components that are not produced in the United States for use in the Brightline West High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail System between Las Vegas, NV and Rancho Cucamonga, CA (Project). FRA selected the Project for funding under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Program (FSP Program), and therefore FRA's Buy America requirements apply to the Project. FRA's Buy America requirements include: FRA's statutory requirements, which require 100 percent of the manufactured products, steel, and iron used in an FRA-funded project to be produced in the United States; and the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA), which requires all construction materials used in the FRA-funded project to be produced in the United States. FRA is not waiving the applicable BABA requirements for construction materials, and therefore this waiver does not apply to the construction materials used in the Project. Brightline West, the project sponsor, has selected Siemens as its preferred rolling stock vendor, and requested that FRA proceed with finalizing the Buy America waiver request for the Siemens trains and other components as included in the previously submitted documentation. Therefore, FRA is waiving its requirements for the first two Siemens trainsets, car shells, signal systems, high-speed rail turnout, and fire alarm systems based on the domestic nonavailability of these components, as described in the proposed waiver. NDOT and Brightline West estimate that more than 95 percent of the total direct dollar expenditures for the Project will be spent on domestically sourced products and labor, including 100 percent of the civil infrastructure costs.

This rule amends, suspends, or removes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) and associated Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure Procedures for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, adding new obstacles, or changing air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide for the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.

This action modifies the Class D and Class E airspace designated as a surface area at McClellan-Palomar Airport, Carlsbad, CA. Additionally, this action makes administrative modifications to update the airport's existing Class D and Class E airspace legal descriptions. These actions will support the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) and visual flight rules (VFR) operations at the airport.

The FAA announces the special class airworthiness criteria for the Archer Aviation, Inc. (Archer) Model M001 powered-lift. This document sets forth the airworthiness criteria the FAA finds to be appropriate and applicable for the powered-lift design.

In order to account for increased transport of hazardous materials as well as the burdens such transport places on first responders, PHMSA proposes overdue updates to the registration fees under the statutorily mandated registration and fee assessment program for persons who transport, or offer for transportation, certain categories and quantities of hazardous materials. PHMSA's proposal would increase the annual fee to be paid by those registrants qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit organization by $125 to $375 and by those registrants not qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit organization by $425 to $3,000. Actions such as fee adjustments are necessary to fund PHMSA's Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grants program at newly authorized levels in accordance with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58). PHMSA also proposes to implement an electronic-only registration fee payment process. Finally, PHMSA proposes to revise requirements to clarify that a certificate of registration may be carried in either electronic or paper form for both motor carriers and those who transport hazardous materials by vessel.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Canada Limited Partnership Model BD-500-1A10 and BD-500-1A11 airplanes. This AD was prompted by the determination that reliance on design assurance level (DAL) D software for flight-critical fly-by-wire (FBW) rigging functions may result in undetected inaccurate positioning of the primary flight control surfaces. This AD requires the use of specific issues of the aircraft maintenance publication (AMP) for electrical rigging procedures, and an electrical rigging confirmation check of primary flight control surfaces for certain airplanes, as specified in a Transport Canada AD, which is incorporated by reference. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.